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1:16Let's go The massacre of more than
1:5815,000 Haitian nationals in October
2:001937 brought the Trujillo dictatorship
2:03its first international crisis. In
2:07Washington, Hamilton Fish, a prominent
2:09member of the House Foreign Affairs
2:11Committee, publicly declared that he
2:13would ask the American government to
2:15break relations with the Dominican
2:17Republic if the dispute with Haiti was
2:19not resolved. Immediately after,
2:24President Roosevelt, Secretary of State
2:27Cordell Hull, and other figures in
2:29American public life applied pressure
2:31that forced Trujillo to negotiate the
2:33situation. On January 31, 1938, with
2:39the mediation of the governments of
2:41Cuba, Mexico, and the United States,
2:44Trujillo's representatives signed an
2:46agreement with Haiti in Washington,
2:48D.C., through which Trujillo pledged to
2:51pay the Haitian government an indemnity
2:54of $ 750,000 to be used for the benefit
2:56of the victims and their families.
3:02Months after the agreement was signed,
3:03Trujillo sent an emissary to
3:05Port-au-Prince who bribed several
3:06Haitian officials and made it possible
3:08to settle the debt with the Haitian
3:10government by paying only $ 50,000.
3:15Some time later, one of Trujillo's
3:17negotiators remarked, "We paid the
3:19Haitian government $ 550,000, but they
3:22only gave the Haitians two cents a head
3:24." In view of the international scandal
3:29caused by the massacre of the Haitians,
3:31Trujillo decided not to run as a
3:33presidential candidate and proposed
3:35Jacinto Peinado for the presidency of
3:37the Republic and Manuel de Jesús
3:39Troncoso de la Concha for the vice
3:41presidency. On May 16, 1938, national
3:46elections were held with the Dominican
3:48Party and its candidates as the only
3:50participants. The candidates put
3:54forward by Trujillo received 100%of the
3:57votes cast in their favor. Three months
4:01later, Jacinto Peinado was sworn in as
4:03the first puppet president in
4:05Trujillo's service. With Peinado,
4:09Trujillo began the practice of having a
4:11subordinate with the title of President
4:13of the Republic while he continued to
4:15occupy his offices in the government
4:17palace. From the Palace, Trujillo
4:21controlled the entire country while
4:23Peinado occupied an office elsewhere in
4:25the building under the dictator's
4:27orders. In 1938, an international
4:32conference on the situation of Jews in
4:34Europe was held in the French city of
4:37Evian. At this event, it was announced
4:40that Trujillo was willing to receive
4:42100,000 Jewish refugees in the
4:44Dominican Republic. The announcement
4:46was made by the Dominican
4:48representative in France. His brother,
4:50Virgilio Trujillo. To allow the
4:53settlement of the Jews in the country,
4:55Trujillo charged one million dollars to
4:57a group of Jewish businessmen from New
4:59York. In May 1940, the first 750 Jews
5:04arrived in the Dominican Republic and
5:07were settled in Sosúa, a small town
5:11near the city of Puerto Plata. Trujillo
6:25held a similar negotiation with the
6:27Spanish Republican exiles, who began
6:29arriving in Santo Domingo in November
6:321939 and the early months of 1940.
6:36Around that time, about 4,000 Spanish
6:38refugees, mostly intellectuals, artists
6:41, and politicians, arrived in Santo
6:43Domingo. Later, they would have a
6:46notable influence on the social,
6:47political, and cultural life of the
6:49Dominican Republic. On March 7, 1940,
6:54at 7:30 p.m. at the Marion Hospital,
6:57President Jacinto Peynado passed away.
7:02The next day, Vice President Manuel de
7:04Jesús Troncoso de la Concha stepped in
7:06to play his role. Nothing changed in
7:10the country. In public administration,
7:13as in all aspects of national life,
7:15things continued to be done exactly as
7:18Trujillo dictated. Now, Dr. Manuel de
7:22Jesús Troncoso de la Concha, honorable
7:24President of the Republic, will present
7:26Major General Héctor B. Trujillo
7:27Molina, Military Merit. Officers,
7:31lasers, soldiers, I have wished, for my
7:36own honor, to be the bearer and
7:42personal executor of today's order,
7:47which provides for the presentation to
7:49the army of its new commander-in-chief,
7:52Major General Héctor Bienvenido
7:54Trujillo Molina, Secretary of State for
7:57War and Navy, brother. is ordered to be
8:00put in possession of that high office.
8:02I know I am presenting to you someone
8:05you know well. He was trained in these
8:10very barracks. Here he went through
8:15every rank. Here he nurtured his spirit
8:21in the school of honor, patriotism,
8:24loyalty, courage, and integrity,
8:27founded by your distinguished brother,
8:30Generalissimo Trujillo, spiritual
8:33father and leader. And now, ladies and
8:38gentlemen, he is going to deliver his
8:40speech, the commander-in-chief of the
8:45National Army, Major General Héctor B.
8:47Trujillo Molina. Mr. President: On
8:52behalf of the Brigadier General acting
8:55as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the
8:58other officers who have earned their
9:01promotion, and on my own behalf, I want
9:05to express our deepest gratitude,
9:07devoting all our energies to the nation
9:10, built as we are on the example
9:13offered to us every day by our
9:16Generalissimo Trujillo. Stations HI2T,
9:24HI3T, and HI4T of the La Voz del Yuna
9:26radio circuit have broadcast from the
9:28Executive Palace in Ciudad Trujillo,
9:30capital of the Dominican Republic. On
9:39January 5, 1942, the Assembly for the
9:41Revision of the Constitution of the
9:44Republic met and introduced the
9:46following changes: Extension of the
9:48presidential term from 4 to 5 years,
9:50abolition of the vice presidency of the
9:52Republic, and recognition of women's
9:55civil rights. In February 1942, the
10:00electoral process began in view of that
10:03year's elections. As usual,
10:06communiqués from various social
10:08sectors began to be published, asking
10:11Trujillo to retake the presidency of
10:13the Republic. In mid-February, the
10:17Dominican Party and the debuting
10:19Trujillist Party proclaimed Trujillo as
10:21their candidate for the May elections.
10:26A commission from both parties, led by
10:29Senate President Porfirio Herrera, went
10:32to the Fundación estate to communicate
10:34his nomination to Trujillo. After
10:39listening to the commissioners,
10:41Trujillo replied, "I accept." Ah. On
11:21May 16, 1942, the national elections
11:24were held, and the next day the
11:26Official Gazette was published with the
11:29results. 581,937 people voted. Electors
11:35, and according to the Central
11:37Electoral Board certificate, that total
11:40of votes cast is also the number of
11:42votes obtained by the Dominican Party
11:44candidates. At a meeting held in San
11:49Pedro de Macorís, Manuel Arturo Peña
11:51Batlle, then president of the Chamber
11:53of Deputies, launched the proposal that
11:55Trujillo assume the presidency
11:57immediately, without having to wait
11:59until August 16. Manuel de Jesús
12:03Troncoso de la Concha resigned from his
12:05post, and Trujillo was sworn in as
12:07constitutional president of the
12:09Republic for the 1942-1947 term.
12:16Troncoso de la Concha, in his
12:18resignation speech, stated, "The
12:20elections of May 16, 1942, have
12:23constituted the most comforting
12:25democratic spectacle my memory recalls.
12:28" In February 1944 it was the 100th
12:33anniversary of the founding of the
12:35Dominican Republic. For such an
12:38occasion, the dictatorship organized a
12:40series of events and activities that it
12:42christened the Centenary Festivities.
12:45History, the great teacher of men, has
12:51here for us its most exalted page. As a
12:59book of high examples, the bones of the
13:03patriots, illuminated by the lamp of
13:07glory as if they were pages of that
13:10book, make such a sacred place ideal
13:14for us to offer our most intimate vows
13:18and our dearest experiences, teeming
13:21with ideals. We are before the altar of
13:26the nation. Altars have always been
13:30favorable places for great offerings.
13:35For my country and my people, I must do
13:39more than I have done. Here before the
13:57hard stones where the ashes of the
13:59founders rest. I swear and promise I
14:04will work for the nation. The nation is
14:15not just the history of a heroic past.
14:18It is not merely the chronicle of its
14:21men's prowess or a symbol of valor, nor
14:23just the recount of the deeds that
14:26surrounded its cradle, but a permanent
14:28requirement. Our homeland is also the
14:33future, and we are the ones who make
14:35history, its authors, so that future
14:38researchers may write it, ensuring that
14:41we will be present in the endless years
14:44to come. We stand here, liberators,
14:47fathers of the nation, from the
14:50historical and spiritual eminence,
14:53heralding the clarity of the future.
14:58The future is made, molded, and
15:00conquered with the help of God. The
15:05future crowns brave, hardworking, and
15:08idealistic people. Let us march toward
15:13it with confidence, shielded by our
15:14unblemished patriotism and our
15:16commitment to serve humanity in a
15:18Christian manner. The future begins
15:28today. The future starts at this very
15:32moment. The centennial celebrations
15:39were held amidst a dreadful drought
15:41that dramatically worsened the poverty
15:43levels suffered by the popular sectors.
16:32On August 15, 1938, the new port of
16:35Santo Domingo was inaugurated. This
16:39meant an extraordinary boost to
16:41commercial activity, both national and
16:43international, since deep-draft ships
16:46could not dock at the old port, greatly
16:48limiting foreign trade. The design and
16:52construction works of the port of Santo
16:54Domingo were directed by the Puerto
16:56Rican engineer Félix Benítez Rexach,
16:58to whom the government awarded the
16:59Order of Duarte. On September 24, 1940,
17:04an agreement was signed in Washington
17:07D.C. that repealed the 1924
17:09Dominican-American Convention and
17:11restored, among other things, customs
17:13control to the Dominican government.
17:18Trujillo, holding the rank of
17:19ambassador extraordinary on a special
17:21mission, signed together with Secretary
17:24of State Cordell Hull what would later
17:26be known as the Trujillo-Hull Treaty.
17:55The outbreak of the Second World War in
17:57September 1939 and the subsequent rise
18:00in prices of Dominican products in the
18:02international market caused an
18:04unprecedented boom in exports,
18:06extraordinary economic surpluses, and a
18:09considerable increase in state spending
18:11. In 1941, the dictatorship bought the
18:16branch of the National City Bank of New
18:19York and founded, on October 24 of that
18:21same year, the Banco de Reservas of the
18:24Dominican Republic, among whose
18:26directors would figure years later Mr.
18:28Juancho Morales. Six years later, the
18:33Central Bank of the Republic was
18:35created, and on January 10, 1947, the
18:37Dominican peso was established as the
18:40country's official currency. Until that
18:43moment, the American dollar was the
18:45currency that circulated within the
18:47national territory. In July 1947,
18:50Trujillo paid off the Dominican state's
18:53foreign debt, amounting to 9,271,855.
19:00and 55 cents. personally, as the
19:05National Congress frees the country
19:08absolutely from all foreign debt. In
19:14announcing this to the Dominican people
19:16, overflowing with patriotic joy, my
19:18heart has fulfilled one of my most
19:20intimately and fervently cherished
19:22desires. It was always my mind's
19:26patriotic obsession to rescue the
19:29country from the financial servitude
19:31that subjected us to the tutelage of
19:34the insane or the incapable. A shameful
19:39interdiction for a worthy people, and
19:42despite the adverse factors I referred
19:45to earlier, I devoted all my efforts
19:48with keen interest, with sagacity, with
19:51caution, and above all, with tireless
19:53work, scientifically oriented and
19:56imposing the most rigid and honest
19:59administration of public funds. To the
20:03substantial purpose of reaching the
20:06goal, regardless of the obstacles and
20:08hurdles that had to be overcome, the
20:11stages to be traveled as milestones on
20:13the difficult route to the aim I
20:15announced, cherished by my patriotic
20:18dreams: the total economic freedom of
20:20the Republic. During the 1940s, while
20:25Mr. Modesto Díaz was mayor of the city
20:27, Santo Domingo underwent a vast urban
20:29remodeling program that included the
20:31construction of avenues, buildings, and
20:33new residences. From 1945 well into the
20:381950s, Trujillo carried out a vast
20:41industrialization plan, building more
20:43than 50 industries of various types,
20:46most notably those linked to
20:48agricultural activity. The investment
21:06Trujillo made in the industrial sector
21:08was of extraordinary proportions. By
21:111936, the capital invested in the
21:13industrial sector was 62,314,340. And
21:19by 1955, it had risen to 2,011,491,411.
21:48Ah. The more the state develops,
23:08binding men in its exact and frozen
23:11mesh, the more human confidence aspires
23:14to place at the other end of the
23:17immense chain the adored image of a
23:19protector. Trujillo, with his
23:30extraordinary energy, his great
23:31capacity for work, and his astonishing
23:34ability for manipulation, built the
23:36image of the strongman that the
23:38Dominican citizen unconsciously longed
23:40for to protect themselves from
23:42difficulties. One of his most relevant
23:45Dominican biographers states, "The
23:48great criminals of history do not
23:50obtain their greatness through the
23:52function of their criminal capacity,
23:54but through certain conditions that are
23:56actually virtues and which they, to
23:58everyone's misfortune, put at the
24:00service of evil.""On the other hand,
24:03his most important American biographer
24:05gives a description of the tyrant's
24:07behavioral characteristics. Endowed
24:11with physical and volitional energy,
24:13his mind was agile and lucid,
24:14particularly in the realm of cunning.
24:18Sagacity was, for him, a natural thing.
24:21From an early age, he must have become
24:24aware of the strength of will and
24:27purpose that made him a man different
24:29from the rest. The craving for money, a
24:33product of his practical mind and his
24:36past privations, fed his will to power.
24:40From very early on, he perceived the
24:42utility of money as a source and
24:44support of power. He tended to lavish
24:48it generously in a typically
24:50unpredictable manner. On one occasion
24:53he stated," To govern, one must pave
24:56the way with money. "His faith in the
24:58power of money and his conviction that
25:01every man and every thing has its price
25:03. They found testimony in the need for
25:07the physical sensation of money. He
25:10never went out without carrying large
25:13sums of money in Dominican and American
25:16currency in a briefcase. He managed
25:20money with almost military rigor and,
25:22although he could swindle without
25:24remorse, he paid his bills religiously.
25:28Juxtaposed with his lust for power.
25:32There existed within him an egotistical
25:34sentiment that, over the years, would
25:35turn into megalomania. That
25:39extraordinary need for adulation and
25:41the propagation of his name reflected a
25:44latent demand deep within his being. It
25:48also revealed his knowledge of how
25:50vanity and flattery could be used in
25:53politics. Physical energy was the
25:56activating agent of his desire for
25:58power. His capacity for work was almost
26:02incredible. He usually rose at 4 in the
26:05morning and by breakfast time had
26:08already exercised, examined a mountain
26:11of reports and papers, and read the
26:13first edition of the morning paper,
26:16brought to his residence directly from
26:19the press. By 9, the time he reached
26:23his office, he was up to date on all
26:25recent events in the country and the
26:28rest of the world. He had a nervous
26:32temperament, but he did not show it
26:34thanks to his rigorous regimen of
26:36self-discipline. He listened calmly,
26:40his dark, expressive eyes fixed on the
26:44speaker, whom he often regarded with
26:47his famous, faint, inscrutable, and
26:50dangerous smile. He spoke little,
26:55although he could be a master of grace
26:58and charm when he chose to be.
27:01From the academies, deliver me, Lord.
27:04His Spanish was correct. He understood
27:07English well and spoke it adequately,
27:09even though he almost never used it.
27:13The concentrated and disciplined energy
27:16of a personality that was basically
27:18emotional was perhaps the origin of a
27:20force that everyone, friend and foe,
27:23perceived. Trujillo imposed his
27:27presence by virtue of a magnetism, a
27:30personal command that had nothing to do
27:32with the appeal of his physique, his
27:35manners, or his conversation. He had a
27:39fondness for neckties that bordered on
27:41an obsession. He eventually acquired a
27:44collection of more than 10,000 ties.
27:47Something similar happened with suits
27:50and uniforms, of which he came to own
27:53nearly 2,000, distributed among his
27:55various residences and apartments. 500
27:59pairs of shoes filled his closets. A
28:04Dominican intellectual specialized in
28:06feminism, when referring to Trujillo,
28:08states:" Another excessive ambition of
28:12the dictator was women. Also objects of
28:15collection, just like ties, shoes, and
28:18suits. The female sex did not escape
28:21his thirst. Power not only represses,
28:26it also seduces. "Trujillo punished.
28:31But with the opposite sex, socially
28:33compelled to submission and ignorance,
28:35his crushing political power turned
28:38into charm. Fascination translated into
28:43sexual domination linked, in complex
28:46ways, feelings of powerlessness, fear,
28:48and rebellion with the daily reality of
28:51sexual desire in women drawn to the
28:53eroticism of power. The nature of this
28:59dictatorial mechanism that disrupts
29:01reality with pleasure cannot be easily
29:04explained. Trujillo took whichever
29:09women he desired on a whim, but not a
29:11few of them were seduced by the
29:14opulence of the man who owned their
29:16material and spiritual miseries.
29:21On September 20, 1943, the French
29:23minister in Ciudad Trujillo, Arman,
29:26sent a report to his country's foreign
29:29secretary. Referring to Trujillo, he
29:32stated," By temperament, he is little
29:35inclined to submit to any moral law. He
29:39is capable of doing a good deed today
29:40and the exact opposite tomorrow. He
29:44loves only himself beyond measure. The
29:49sufferings and miseries of the people
29:51provoke no sentimental reaction in him.
29:56He measures progress by the number of
29:58houses built rather than by the sum of
30:01happiness spread. He who is not with me
30:05is against me. Trujillo was terrified
30:08by the idea that his countrymen might
30:10lose their fear. When the country was
30:14calm, he would issue orders for someone
30:17to be found murdered in a public place.
30:21In a 1945 report from the American
30:24embassy, it says, "Recently, the body
30:28of a man was found hanging in front of
30:30the Secretariat of Agriculture in
30:33Ciudad Trujillo. The body was
30:36discovered by employees arriving at
30:38their offices to work in the morning.
30:41Reliable sources also reported that
30:44another body was found hanging in the
30:46town of Cotuí and three more in Nagua.
30:50It is said, though not confirmed, that
30:53the same has happened in several towns.
30:57In none of these cases could the bodies
31:00be identified, as no identification was
31:03found on them. Furthermore, no one knew
31:07them in the locations where they were
31:09found. Therefore, it is assumed that
31:13the government's practice is to commit
31:16the murder in one location and then
31:18deposit the body elsewhere. By the mid-
31:321940s, the situation of the popular
31:34sectors reached critical levels. The
31:38relationship between wages and the cost
31:40of daily consumer goods reveals the
31:42cruel exploitation to which those
31:43sectors were subjected, in addition to
31:46the high cost of living at that time.
31:50The wage of a skilled worker, such as
31:53an electrician or a mechanic, was
31:55approximately 1.50 pesos per day for a
31:58workday of more than 10 hours.
32:02Unskilled laborers, such as dockworkers
32:05and farmhands, earned 60 cents for a
32:08day's work, while the prices of basic
32:10necessities were as follows. Oil, 80
32:16cents a bottle, rice 12 cents a pound,
32:19beans 7 cents a pound, lard 40 cents a
32:23pound, and plantains at 2 cents each.
32:30Another feature of the dictatorial
32:32exploitation system applied by Trujillo
32:34were the forced labor camps, where
32:36people were forced to work without
32:38being paid anything in return. To
32:42supply labor for these work camps, the
32:44army conducted raids throughout the
32:46country, and detainees without
32:48permanent work were accused of the
32:50crime of vagrancy, sent to prison, and
32:52from prison were moved to the forced
32:54labor camps. The same happened to those
32:59citizens who did not have their
33:01identity documents in order, popularly
33:03known as the" three hits ": the ID card
33:05, the palm card, and the mandatory
33:07military service card. According to
33:12unconfirmed data, around 10,000
33:13Dominicans lost their lives in these
33:15work camps, especially in the Sisal
33:17camps of Azua, the rice farms of Nagua,
33:20on roads and highways, at Virgilio
33:22Trujillo's Mango Fresco farm, and on
33:24many other properties owned by Trujillo
33:26and his family. For some years,
33:30significant union activity had been
33:32developing in San Pedro de Macorís and
33:34La Romana. This activity was tolerated
33:38by Trujillo due to his unfavorable
33:41situation in the international arena,
33:43his differences with the American
33:45companies that owned the sugar mills,
33:48and also the policy followed by union
33:50leaders who avoided directly attacking
33:53Trujillo and his regime. The situation
33:57of the workers at the eastern sugar
33:59mills was described by union leaders as
34:01painful and alarming. The case of the
34:05cane cutters reached dramatic levels,
34:07as they were paid 17 cents for every
34:09ton of cane cut, in addition to the
34:11abuses and deception they were
34:13subjected to by the cane weighers. In
34:18January 1946, the workers of La Romana,
34:20organized in the Provincial Labor
34:23Federation, and those of San Pedro de
34:25Macorís, in the Local Federation,
34:27launched an indefinite strike,
34:29demanding wage increases and compliance
34:32with the 8-hour workday, among other
34:34demands. During the resounding success
34:39of the strike, which lasted for more
34:41than a week and managed to paralyze the
34:43eastern provinces, the dictatorship
34:45proceeded to negotiate with the union
34:46leaders. At the negotiating table, the
34:50workers were represented by Mauricio
34:52Báez, Nando Hernández, and Justino
34:54José del Orbe, among others. The
34:58dictatorship was represented by Marrero
35:00Aristi, Jesús de Galíndez, General
35:02Federico Fiallo, and a representative
35:05of the sugar companies. After tense
35:09negotiations, the dictatorship gave in,
35:12and the workers achieved, among other
35:15demands, a general wage increase that
35:17in many cases exceeded 100%of the
35:19prevailing salary at the time,
35:21compliance with 8-hour workdays, and
35:24overtime pay. Once the strike ended,
35:28the dictatorship initiated a wave of
35:30repression against the labor movement
35:31in the East. Several of its leaders
35:35were murdered, and others had to seek
35:36asylum in the Mexican embassy, from
35:38where they left for exile. Trujillo's
35:42next step was to take control of the
35:44unions, forcing them to affiliate with
35:47the Confederation of Dominican Workers,
35:49an entity controlled by him through
35:51Francisco Prat Ramírez, alias"
35:53Panchito, "whom Justino José del Orbe
35:55describes as a nefarious character who
35:58lent himself to all of Trujillo's dire
36:00schemes against the Eastern Labor
36:02Movement. Mauricio Báez, the leader of
36:06the strike movement, was born in 1910
36:08in Palenque, San Cristóbal. From a
36:11very young age, he moved to San Pedro
36:13de Macorís, where he worked at an
36:15Ingenio Colón warehouse and later as a
36:17dockworker at the city's port. In the
36:21early 1930s, he began his union
36:23activities as an active member of the
36:25sailors 'guild, encouraging and
36:27organizing other labor guilds from
36:29there until he founded the Local Labor
36:32Federation, which came to bring
36:33together around 30 workers' guilds from
36:36the entire province. Described by those
36:41who knew him as a brave, honest, and
36:43incorruptible man, Mauricio Báez
36:45managed to earn the trust and respect
36:47of the workers of the East, for whose
36:49defense he suffered imprisonment and
36:51exile on several occasions. On December
36:558, 1950, undercover agents in
36:57Trujillo's service appeared at house
37:00number eight on Cervantes Street in the
37:02Sevillano district of Havana, Cuba.
37:06They kidnapped Mauricio Báez, and he
37:08was never seen again. Ah. On August 4,
37:571946, a strong earthquake shook the
38:00entire country, causing considerable
38:02damage in Moca, San Francisco, and the
38:04province of Nagua, where the town of
38:08Matanzas was swept away by the sea. Two
38:31weeks after the tragedy and supported
38:34by an agreement with the Cuban
38:36communists, the Dominican Revolutionary
38:38Democratic Party, which had been
38:40clandestinely founded in 1943 by lawyer
38:43Eriberto Núñez, came to light as the
38:46Popular Socialist Party and integrated
38:48several Dominican exiles residing in
38:51Havana into its leadership. The
38:55leadership of the PSP was composed of
38:57Fredy Valdés, Roberto Macabe, Ramón
38:59Grullón, Mauricio Báez, and Héctor
39:01Ramírez. Also Rafael Kennedy, Luis
39:04Escoto Gómez, Antonio Soto, Francisco
39:06Alberto Henríquez Vázquez, Pericles
39:08Franco Ornes, and Félix Servio
39:10Ducoudray. On September 14, they held a
39:14meeting at Julia Molina Park, and the
39:16following month, on October 26, they
39:18called another one at Colón Park. With
39:22an estimated attendance of over 3,000
39:24people, the second PSP rally was
39:26attacked by police officers in plain
39:29clothes, who beat and wounded numerous
39:31protesters at Colón Park. The
39:35protesters, some of them bleeding,
39:37headed to the United States, Cuban, and
39:40Mexican embassies, where 33 people took
39:42refuge seeking asylum. Due to the
39:47widespread international press coverage
39:49of the repression of the PSP rally,
39:52Trujillo ordered the release of those
39:54arrested, including the PSP leadership,
39:56and gave guarantees to the refugees in
39:59the embassies so they could leave. That
40:03same month of October, the Juventud
40:05Democrática group came to light,
40:07composed mostly of university students,
40:09with a board including Manuel Mena
40:11Blonda, Josefina Padilla, José
40:13Martínez Bonilla, and Salvador Reyes.
40:16Also Diego Bordas, Virgilio Díaz
40:18Grullón, Alfredo Lebrón, José Ramón
40:20Martínez Burgos, José Manuel de Peña
40:22González, and Juan Ducoudray Mansfield
40:24. The membership of Juventud
40:27Democrática included Carmen Natalia
40:29Martínez, Víctor Villegas, Rafael Mur
40:31Garrido, and Mario Sánchez Córdoba.
40:34Also Rafael Nieses Cocullo, Jorge
40:36Arceno Brugal, Pedro Alfredo Brito,
40:38Tiberio Castellanos, Alfonso Moreno
40:40Martínez, and Arístides Sanavia,
40:42among others. On October 30, 1946, the
40:48intelligence division of the United
40:50States Naval Attaché's office in
40:52Havana sent a confidential report to
40:54the State Department regarding
40:56Trujillo's internal policy. The report
41:00stated," There is no doubt that
41:02President Trujillo is playing cat and
41:04mouse with the communists in his
41:05country. He is encouraging them to meet
41:09and hold demonstrations, to stir up
41:11trouble, and to slander the government
41:13of the United States. When they have
41:17done so enough to give him an excuse to
41:19use an iron fist, he will pounce on
41:21them and exterminate them. Then he will
41:25be able to say that communism is a
41:28problem in all other countries of the
41:30Western Hemisphere, but that it has
41:32been successfully handled in the
41:34Dominican Republic. Thus, he will
41:38declare that he is helping the fight
41:40against communism and is therefore
41:43helping the United States. "
41:47In March 1947, the U.S. government
41:49announced its policy against communism
41:51in Europe, and three months later,
41:54Trujillo banned communism by law. He
41:58ordered the destruction of the PSP and
42:00Juventud Democrática headquarters and
42:02arrested most of their members.
42:04Shielded by the anti-communist struggle
42:07, the dictatorship murdered numerous
42:09members of these organizations, and
42:11others were forced into exile. The May
42:141947 elections were an illustrative
42:16display of Trujillo's theatricality.
42:20Faced with international criticism
42:22regarding the lack of democracy in the
42:24country, the dictatorship staged a
42:25democratic spectacle for foreign
42:27consumption. Three political parties
42:30participated in the elections, each
42:32with its own presidential candidate.
42:35The National Labor Party, whose
42:37candidate was Rafael Espaillat; the
42:39National Democratic Party, which
42:41nominated Francisco Prats-Ramírez; and
42:43the Dominican Party, which presented
42:45Rafael Leónidas Trujillo as its
42:47candidate. According to official data
42:50of 840,340 votes cast, Trujillo
42:54obtained 781,389 votes, more than 90%of
43:00the total votes cast. Following the
43:04elections, Trujillo called a press
43:06conference for more than 15
43:08international journalists who were in
43:10the country, mostly Americans, to tell
43:12them about the democratic progress he
43:14had achieved. By early 1947, amidst the
43:24democratic winds of the postwar period,
43:27Trujillo found himself surrounded by
43:29governments opposed to his dictatorship
43:31. Rómulo Betancourt in Venezuela, Juan
43:34José Arévalo in Guatemala, Ramón
43:36Grau San Martín in Cuba, and Élie
43:38Lescot in Haiti. After a unification
43:42congress of the Dominican exile held at
43:44the University of Havana, the United
43:47Front of Dominican Liberation was
43:49formed with Ángel Morales as president
43:51; doctors Ramón de Lara and Jiménez
43:53Grullón as secretaries; Dr. Leovigildo
43:56Cuello as plenipotentiary delegate; and
43:58Juan Bosch as special delegate to the
44:00American countries. This leadership
44:04approached the democratic governments
44:06in the Caribbean area with the aim of
44:08obtaining aid for military action
44:10against Trujillo. With that purpose,
44:13Juan Bosch traveled to Mexico in
44:16January 1945 and to Venezuela in
44:18October, where he met with President
44:20Rómulo Betancourt. In November, he
44:23went to Haiti, whose president Élie
44:25Lescot gave him $ 25,000 as a
44:27contribution to the fight against
44:28Trujillo. In January 1946, Juancito
44:32Rodríguez, a wealthy landowner from La
44:34Vega, went into exile and took charge
44:37of the expeditionary plans that were
44:39being hatched in Havana. José Manuel
44:45Alemán, Minister of Education in the
44:48Grau government, served as the liaison
44:50between the Dominican exiles and the
44:52Cuban government, while Manolo Castro,
44:54director of sports in the same ministry
44:56and leader of the Socialist
44:58Revolutionary Movement (MSR), took
44:59charge of recruiting Cuban volunteers
45:02for the expedition. Using the Hotel San
45:05Luis in Havana as a base of operations,
45:08Dominicans, Cubans, and people of other
45:10nationalities managed to form an army
45:13of over 1,000 men, including numerous
45:15veterans of the Spanish Civil War and
45:17World War II. On July 13, 1947, the
45:20exiles elected a central committee to
45:23lead the expedition, composed of Juan
45:26Rodríguez García, Ángel Morales,
45:28Juan Bosch, Jiménez Grullón, and
45:30Leigildo Cuello. Days later, the
45:34expeditionaries left Havana for the
45:36Holguín Polytechnic in eastern Cuba,
45:39where they received military training
45:41under the orders of Manolo Bordas, who
45:43held the rank of lieutenant in the
45:45American army and organized the
45:47expeditionaries into four battalions.
45:50Sandino Battalion, commander Rolando
45:53Masferrer, Cuban, lawyer, and veteran
45:55of the Spanish Civil War. Guiteras
45:58Battalion, commander Eufemio Fernández
46:00, Cuban, doctor, and veteran of the
46:02Spanish Civil War. Luperón Battalion,
46:05commander Jorge Rivas Montes, Honduran,
46:07career military officer, graduate of
46:09the Guatemala Military Academy. Máximo
46:12Gómez Battalion, commander Feliciano
46:14Maderne, career military officer, head
46:16of the Cayo Confites expedition. From
46:19the Holguín Polytechnic, the
46:20expeditionaries were moved to Nipe Bay,
46:22where the ship Aurora and the schooner
46:25Berta awaited them with much of the
46:27cargo for the expedition. They boarded
46:30the ships and headed toward a cay
46:32belonging to the Camagüey archipelago
46:33in the Atlantic Ocean called Cayo
46:35Confites. The U.S. government, upon
46:39learning of the invasion plans, began
46:41pressuring President Grau San Martín
46:43to stop the military action being
46:44prepared against Trujillo. To that end,
46:48their ambassador in Havana, Henry
46:50Norweb, visited President Grau twice
46:52and the foreign minister of his
46:54government twice in July 1947. On July
46:5922, 1947, Trujillo learned of the
47:04invasion plans against him from Cuban
47:06territory and initiated a series of
47:08diplomatic protests against the Cuban
47:10government. Weeks later, with the
47:14expedition’s departure imminent,
47:16Trujillo declared," From the moment the
47:19first invader sets foot on Dominican
47:21territory, we will begin to bomb the
47:23city of Havana. "Amid military
47:28exercises, landing drills, and other
47:30maneuvers, the expeditionaries at Cayo
47:33Confites awaited more ships, as well as
47:35the completion of a good number of
47:37planes for solid air support. By the
47:41beginning of September, the movement
47:44had four ships, 13 planes, and 1,000
47:46armed men. Among the expeditionaries
47:50were José Horacio Rodríguez,
47:52Pichirilo Mejía, Mauricio Báez, Fidel
47:54Castro, Carlos Gutiérrez Menoyo, Pedro
47:57Mir, the brothers Francisco Alberto and
47:59Federico Horacio Henríquez Vázquez,
48:02Germán Martínez Reina, and Nicanor
48:04Saleta Arias. Also Miguel Ángel Feliú
48:08Arzeno, Horacio Julio Ornes Coiscou,
48:10José Rolando Martínez Bonilla, Ángel
48:12Miolán, Dato Pagán Perdomo, and the
48:15brothers Víctor, Rafael, and Virgilio
48:17Mainardi Reina, among many others.
48:21While the expeditionaries waited for
48:23the planes to be equipped with combat
48:25armaments to begin the invasion of
48:27Santo Domingo with air support, General
48:30Genovevo Pérez Damera, head of the
48:32Cuban army, traveled to Washington D.C.
48:34, where he met with high-ranking U.S.
48:36military officials and diplomats
48:38serving Trujillo. Several days later,
48:42Pérez Damera proceeded to confiscate a
48:44shipment of weapons from Minister José
48:46Manuel Alemán's estate and to seize
48:48the premises that the Cayo Confites
48:50expeditionaries held at the Hotel
48:52Sevilla-Biltmore. In parallel to Pérez
48:56Damera's actions, the American
48:58ambassador to Cuba urged the U.S.
48:59pilots involved in Cayo Confites to
49:01return to the United States and abandon
49:04the expedition. The pilots heeded the
49:07call and returned to their country. On
49:10September 21, 1947, the Cayo Confites
49:15expeditionaries decided to leave the
49:17cay upon hearing on the radio about the
49:20raid at the Sevilla Hotel and facing
49:22rumors that the army chief would rebel
49:24against the government. After troop
49:28movements, confusion between the
49:30expeditionary ships, and skirmishes
49:32with the Cuban navy, the
49:33expeditionaries were forced to
49:35disembark at the port of Antilla, where
49:38they were arrested, disarmed, and taken
49:40to the Columbia military compound in
49:42Havana. While imprisoned at Columbia,
49:46Juan Bosch declared a hunger strike
49:48until all the expeditionaries were
49:50released. Following an agreement
49:54between General Pérez Damera and Juan
49:56Bosch, the prisoners were released and
49:58the movement's leaders began
49:59negotiations with the Cuban government
50:01to have the confiscated weapons
50:03returned. In a report from the American
50:07embassy in Havana, dated October 17,
50:091947, referring to Cayo Confites, it
50:12states," This plan to stage an
50:15amphibious and aerial attack, using
50:18modern war tactics and equipment, had a
50:20good probability of success. However,
50:25poor work at the mid-levels, divided
50:27leadership, excessive personal
50:29ambitions, and an ill-timed Cuban
50:32crisis doomed the project to failure. "
50:36Faced with the Cuban government's
50:38refusal to return the weapons to the
50:40exiles, the president of Guatemala,
50:42Juan José Arévalo, intervened and
50:44claimed ownership of them. In early
50:481948, through a secret operation, the
50:51weapons were moved to Guatemala, where
50:53some of the men from Cayo Confites
50:55resumed plans to invade the Dominican
50:57Republic and topple Trujillo. The
51:01troops led by General Juancito
51:03Rodríguez were divided into three
51:05contingents. One headed by General
51:07Miguel Ángel Ramírez, which was to
51:09enter through the south of the country,
51:12another led by Horacio Julio Ornes
51:13through Puerto Plata, and a third
51:15headed by General Rodríguez would
51:17enter through the Cibao. On June 19,
51:221949, while Antonio Imbert Barrera was
51:24serving as governor of Puerto Plata, 15
51:27expeditionaries commanded by Horacio
51:29Julio Ornes Coiscou landed on the coast
51:32of Luperon. When the Catalina seaplane
51:36that brought them touched down, it was
51:38attacked by a Dominican coast guard
51:40vessel, setting the plane on fire
51:42instantly and burning several of the
51:44expeditionaries to death. Of the 15
51:47expeditionaries, 10 died during the
51:49course of the operation and five
51:52survived. Among those who died in
51:55Luperon were the Dominicans Gugu
51:57Henriquez, Hugo Kunhardt, and Salvador
51:59Reyes Valdes, the Nicaraguans Manuel
52:02Calderon Salcedo, Alejandro Selva, and
52:04Alberto Ramirez, and the Costa Rican
52:06Alfonso Leiton. The survivors were
52:09Horacio Julio Ornes Coiscou, Jose
52:12Rolando Martinez Bonilla, Jose Felix
52:14Cordoba Boniche, Tulio H. Arvelo, and
52:16Miguel Angel Feliu. The two planes
52:20carrying the contingents, led by
52:22Juancito Rodriguez and Miguel Angel
52:24Ramirez, stopped to refuel—one on the
52:27island of Cozumel and the other on the
52:29Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico—where
52:31they were detained by the authorities
52:34of that country. In 1947 we Dominicans
52:40faced a formidable coalition of
52:43governments unprecedented in the
52:45history of the Caribbean. The
52:48governments of Romulo Betancourt in
52:51Venezuela, Juan Jose Arevalo in
52:53Guatemala, Jose Figueres in Costa Rica,
52:56Ramon Grau San Martin in Cuba, and
52:59those of Lescot and Dumarsais Estime in
53:02Haiti had formed a tight pact of
53:05aggression against the Republic. We had
53:11knowledge of this unusual alliance
53:13since the middle of the previous year.
53:16In 1947 the coalition's military power
53:22became visible at Cayo Confites,
53:24disguised behind the mask of the
53:26so-called Caribbean Legion. Later, in
53:311949, Prio Socarras and Juan Jose
53:36Arevalo plotted and carried out a new
53:39armed attack that met a tragic end in
53:42the bay of Luperon. With the help of
53:51some brave men and with my great energy
53:54, and above all with God's help, I have
53:57emerged victorious." I do solemnly
54:14swear that I will faithfully execute
54:17the office of President of the United
54:19States, and will "" protect "
54:35In March 1933, Franklin Delano
54:37Roosevelt took the oath of office as
54:39President of the United States,
54:41inaugurating his" New Deal "policy to
54:43lift his country out of the economic
54:45crisis and his" Good Neighbor "policy
54:48for relations with Latin America.
55:01From this moment on, the consolidation
55:03of the Trujillo regime and its ties
55:05with the United States began. Roosevelt
55:08was Assistant Secretary of the Navy
55:10when he participated in the
55:12preparations for the American invasion
55:14of Santo Domingo. His good
55:16relationships with the Marine Corps
55:18officers who were in Santo Domingo, and
55:20those officers 'relationships with
55:22Trujillo, created a favorable
55:24environment for the dictator in
55:26Washington's power circles. To this,
55:28one must add the work of Joseph E.
55:30Davies. Davis, who replaced Edward Gan
55:32in his lobbying duties for Trujillo.
55:35Joseph E. Davies. Davies was an
55:36intimate friend of President Roosevelt.
55:39He held several important diplomatic
55:41posts, and from 1939 to 1941, he was a
55:44special assistant to Secretary of State
55:47Cordell Hull. Among Trujillo's
55:56lobbyists were also Homer Cummings,
55:57Attorney General of the United States
55:59during the Roosevelt administration.
56:02Dr. William G. Morgan, one of President
56:04Truman's physicians. General Joseph
56:07Tigan, an aide to President Roosevelt,
56:09who as a Marine Corps major
56:11participated in the military
56:12interventions in Santo Domingo and
56:14Haiti. Major General Thomas Watson of
56:17the Marine Corps, a protector of
56:19Trujillo during the 1916 military
56:21intervention, who later held a command
56:23position at Marine Corps headquarters.
56:26Avra M. Warren was the American
56:29ambassador in Santo Domingo from 1942
56:31to 1944 and simultaneously a lobbyist
56:34for Trujillo. On August 17, 1942,
56:38during a solemn ceremony at the
56:40University of Santo Domingo, Avra
56:42Warren placed on Trujillo’s shoulders
56:44the insignia accrediting him as an
56:46honorary doctor from the University of
56:48Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, a
56:50distinction granted by said university
56:52in April of that year. In April 1944,
56:57Warren was transferred to Panama, and
56:59five months later, in August of that
57:01year, he returned to Santo Domingo
57:04accompanied by General George Brett,
57:06commanding general of the Caribbean
57:08Defense Command based in Panama, from
57:10which he controlled all American
57:12military operations in Latin America.
57:17In the Dominican capital, General Brett
57:19made public statements in defense of
57:21Trujillo's regime, joining the chorus
57:22of the dictator's defenders in American
57:24power circles. During his visit to
57:27Santo Domingo, Trujillo appointed Major
57:29Salvador Covián Parra as military
57:31aide-de-camp to General Brett. On the
57:35other hand, Trujillo also allocated an
57:37extraordinary amount of money for
57:39favors, gifts, and bribes among
57:40journalists, politicians, and
57:42congressmen, depending on his interests
57:44at the time. Well-known is the case of
57:48Senator Hamilton Fish, who after the
57:51massacre of Haitians in 1937 used to
57:53harshly criticize Trujillo. In March
57:571939, Fish visited Santo Domingo,
57:59invited by Trujillo and accompanied by
58:01fellow senators Matthew Merritt and
58:04Theodore Green. Before leaving Santo
58:08Domingo, Trujillo gave Fish $ 5,000 for
58:11a supposed oil exploration project.
58:15Upon his return to the United States,
58:17Senator Fish overflowed with praise for
58:19the dictator he had previously
58:20condemned and initiated efforts for
58:22Trujillo to be officially invited to
58:24Washington. Sumner Welles was a
58:27well-known opponent of the Trujillo
58:29dictatorship, a great friend of Horacio
58:31Vásquez, and kept in constant contact
58:33with the exiled anti-Trujillo leader
58:36Ángel Morales. In early 1933,
58:39President Roosevelt named Wells
58:41Undersecretary of State for Latin
58:43America, but he could do nothing
58:46against Trujillo. Wells was neutralized
58:50by the Good Neighbor policy and by
58:52Trujillo's allies in Washington. In
58:55June 1944, Ellis Briggs arrived in
58:58Santo Domingo as ambassador. In one of
59:02his secret reports to the State
59:04Department, he stated,
59:06Trujillo is a Dominican problem that
59:08must be solved by the Dominican people.
59:13But it cannot be ignored that Trujillo
59:16rules the Dominican Republic through
59:18fear, based on his demonstrated
59:20inclination to use sudden, ruthless,
59:22and repressive measures against any
59:25individual who opposes him. Dominicans
59:30gathered together speak with caution,
59:32and the sound of laughter is rarely
59:35heard on the streets of the capital.
59:38The most representative gesture of a
59:40Dominican citizen is when they glance
59:43sideways to see if they are being
59:45overheard. A dictator of Trujillo's
59:49character: tough, competent, corrupt,
59:53ruthless, and incredibly vain. He
59:57considers appeasement quite unnecessary
1:00:00in his international relations.
1:00:04Although it is likely that Trujillo
1:00:06feels patriotic pride, this patriotism
1:00:09is often expressed in terms of personal
1:00:12pride in his possessions. The Dominican
1:00:16Republic and everything within it
1:00:18represents his possessions. An ounce of
1:00:23respect from this individual is worth
1:00:26more than a shipload of superficial
1:00:28friendly expressions. Ever since
1:00:32Trujillo felt the new ambassador's
1:00:34hostility, he made arrangements through
1:00:36his allies in Washington to try to
1:00:38remove him. On November 1, 1944, the
1:00:41State Department's coordinator of Latin
1:00:44American affairs, Mr. Nelson
1:00:46Rockefeller, arrived in Santo Domingo.
1:00:49Rockefeller showed signs of friendship
1:00:51and sympathy toward the dictator during
1:00:54his visit to Santo Domingo, which led
1:00:56to serious differences with Ambassador
1:00:58Ellis Briggs. In December 1944, Nelson
1:01:01Rockefeller was promoted to Assistant
1:01:04Secretary for Latin America, and the
1:01:06following month, January 1945,
1:01:09Ambassador Ellis Briggs was removed and
1:01:11sent to China with a lower rank. In
1:01:15February, the new American ambassador,
1:01:17J.F., arrived. Magruder, who also
1:01:19showed himself hostile to the
1:01:21dictatorship. 9 months later, in
1:01:24October 1945, he had to leave the post,
1:01:27suffering from poor health. In April
1:01:311945, Nazi Germany surrendered. Six
1:01:55months later, Japan was forced to
1:01:56surrender, bringing the Second World
1:01:58War to an end. On April 12, 1945, in
1:02:21Warm Springs, Georgia, President
1:02:23Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, and
1:02:25Harry Truman assumed the presidency of
1:02:28the United States. In September,
1:02:32Spruille Braden was named Assistant
1:02:34Secretary for Latin American Affairs,
1:02:36replacing the dismissed Nelson
1:02:37Rockefeller. Braiden, while ambassador
1:02:42in Havana, sent a memorandum to the
1:02:45State Department dated April 5, 1945,
1:02:47recommending a change in U.S. foreign
1:02:50policy regarding dictatorships and
1:02:52discredited governments in Latin
1:02:55America. In that report, Braiden asked,
1:03:00how the Good Neighbor policy influences
1:03:03our relations with dictatorships and
1:03:07discredited governments. I believe we
1:03:11must re-examine our policies regarding
1:03:14dictators and discredited governments,
1:03:16which are the negation of the
1:03:19principles and freedoms for which we
1:03:21are now fighting. It is admitted that
1:03:25what we do or fail to do in this
1:03:27hemisphere, because of our prominent
1:03:30position, is to some degree a form of
1:03:32intervention. The United States, as we
1:03:36know it, cannot survive in a world that
1:03:39is not democratic. As a matter of
1:03:42self-preservation, it would be highly
1:03:44beneficial for us to surround ourselves
1:03:46with democracies. Furthermore, giving
1:03:51the semblance of apparent support to
1:03:53the existence of these dictators and
1:03:56discredited governments in our midst is
1:03:58a negation of the democracy for which
1:04:01the flower of our youth is giving their
1:04:04lives and shedding their blood across
1:04:06the globe. The world looks to us for
1:04:11leadership. We must assume that
1:04:15responsibility. Upon learning the news
1:04:20of Brien's appointment, Trujillo made
1:04:22extraordinary efforts through his
1:04:24allies in Washington to try to prevent
1:04:26Congress from ratifying Braen's
1:04:28appointment to the State Department.
1:04:32Despite having such relevant allies as
1:04:34Nelson Rockefeller and Juan Domingo
1:04:36Perón, Trujillo could not achieve his
1:04:38purpose. Breiden was ratified by
1:04:41Congress and one of his first actions
1:04:43was to appoint Elis Bricks, his
1:04:45assistant, freeing him from his
1:04:47diplomatic exile in China. In October
1:04:511945, lawyer Ángel Morales of the
1:04:53United Front for the Dominican
1:04:55Liberation held a meeting with State
1:04:58Department officials to request U.S.
1:05:00backing for a possible multilateral
1:05:03intervention against Trujillo,
1:05:05supported by the Uruguayan proposal.
1:05:09approved at the Chapultepec conference.
1:05:12Ellis Bricks, in his capacity as
1:05:13Braiden's assistant, while commenting
1:05:16on Ángel Morales's request, stated,"
1:05:19What Morales is trying to do is to get
1:05:21ahead of a gun that is already aimed at
1:05:24the target he desires. Patience is what
1:05:28suits him best. "On December 24, 1946,
1:05:33the American ambassador in Santo
1:05:35Domingo, George Bot, suggested to the
1:05:37State Department to initiate
1:05:39multilateral action against the
1:05:41Trujillo dictatorship and to make a
1:05:44public statement evidencing American
1:05:46opposition to the Dominican dictatorial
1:05:49regime. Pril Ben, while commenting on
1:05:53Ambassador Butler's request, stated,
1:05:56I agree, but the current moment is not
1:05:59indicated to take this action.
1:06:02The public statement requested by
1:06:04Butler never occurred. For the Trujillo
1:06:08dictatorship, as with other dictatorial
1:06:10regimes in Latin America, the State
1:06:12Department had decreed a ban on arms
1:06:14sales. The Dominican army was
1:06:18precariously equipped. Its obsolete
1:06:21weaponry, acquired in 1930, was a
1:06:23source of deep concern for Trujillo,
1:06:26given the persistent rumors of an
1:06:28invasion against his regime. To
1:06:32strengthen his armed forces, Trujillo
1:06:34needed fighter planes, and in view of
1:06:37the State Department's repeated
1:06:38refusals of his purchase requests, he
1:06:41hired Captain George Stammit of the
1:06:43United States Marine Corps. to manage
1:06:46the acquisition of the planes. Under
1:06:51Trujillo's orders, Captain Stamitz, who
1:06:53had been deputy chief of the American
1:06:55naval mission in Santo Domingo, made
1:06:58several trips to the United States,
1:07:00bought 15 warplanes, and brought them
1:07:02to Santo Domingo illegally in open
1:07:04violation of State Department
1:07:06regulations. Stamitz also hired
1:07:10American pilots and technicians to
1:07:13train Dominican officers. Due to his
1:07:16activities, he was pursued by the FBI
1:07:19at the request of the State Department,
1:07:21but he was never brought to American
1:07:23justice. With the planes and equipment
1:07:26acquired through Stamitz, the Dominican
1:07:29military aviation was significantly
1:07:31strengthened, in whose ranks pilot
1:07:33Octavio de la Maza would later
1:07:35distinguish himself. Other Americans
1:07:38who provided their services to Trujillo
1:07:40to acquire armaments illegally in the
1:07:42United States were Lilan Johnston and
1:07:45Lorenzo Berry, alias Wimpy, among
1:07:46others. In February 1947, General
1:07:51George Marshall was appointed Secretary
1:07:53of State of the United States, and four
1:07:55months later, he announced his famous
1:07:57Marshall Plan to stop Soviet influence
1:08:00in Europe. Should we fail to aid Greece
1:08:04and Turkey in this fateful hour, the
1:08:07effect will be far-reaching to the west
1:08:10as well as to the east. We must take
1:08:15immediate and resolute action. I
1:08:19therefore ask the Congress to provide
1:08:22authority for assistance to Greece and
1:08:25Turkey in the amount of 400 million for
1:08:28the period ending June 30th, 1948. In
1:08:33addition to funds, I ask the Congress
1:08:35to authorize the detail of American
1:08:37civilian and military personnel to
1:08:39Greece and Turkey at the request of
1:08:41those countries to assist in the tasks
1:08:43of reconstruction. In March 1947,
1:08:57President Truman announced the American
1:08:59policy to save Europe from communism,
1:09:01marking the beginning of what would
1:09:04later be known as the Cold War. On May
1:09:0927 of that year, President Truman sent
1:09:11a bill to Congress authorizing the sale
1:09:13of arms to all Latin American countries
1:09:15, including the dictatorships. The
1:09:19following month, Spruille Braden
1:09:21resigned from his position at the State
1:09:23Department, and Ellis Briggs was sent
1:09:25as ambassador to Uruguay. That is how
1:09:28the hostility toward the Dominican
1:09:30dictator in the State Department ended.
1:09:32From then on, Trujillo would take
1:09:34refuge under the shadow of the Cold War
1:09:37and later proclaim himself the champion
1:09:39of anti-communism in America. Juan
1:10:11Gomez’s girls are pretty and dance
1:10:13well, but they have a flaw that
1:10:14captivates everyone who sees them. Juan
1:10:18Gomez’s girls are pretty and dance
1:10:20well, but they have a flaw that
1:10:22captivates everyone who sees them. I
1:10:25like to dance with Lola because Lola
1:10:28dances well. Lola lets herself go like
1:10:30a stalk of sugarcane for the mill. I
1:10:33like to dance with Lola because Lola
1:10:35dances elegantly. Lola lets herself go
1:10:38like a stalk of sugarcane for the mill.
1:10:51The country's second most important
1:10:53city showed its opposition to Trujillo
1:10:55from the early years of his regime. In
1:10:59the mid-1930s, a conspiracy against
1:11:01Trujillo was discovered, which planned
1:11:04to eliminate the dictator on the night
1:11:06of March 31, 1934, when he attended a
1:11:09party at that city's recreation center.
1:11:13The conspiracy was uncovered and 44
1:11:15people were arrested and implicated in
1:11:17it. Among those involved were
1:11:21representatives from all social sectors
1:11:23of the city of Santiago, led by Ramón
1:11:26Vila Piola, Dr. Juan Isidro Jiménez
1:11:28Grullón, Jesús María Patiño, José
1:11:30Daniel Ariza, Carlos Cantizano,
1:11:32Fernando Bermúdez, Francisco Augusto
1:11:34Lora, and Plácido Arturo Piña. Also
1:11:39included were brothers Armando and
1:11:41Julio Menicucci, Leopoldo Franco Vidó,
1:11:44Ángel Miolán, Germán Martínez Reina
1:11:46, Eduardo Grullón, Francisco
1:11:48Castellanos, Sergio Manuel and Delfonso
1:11:50Capot, and Mario Sánchez Guzmán,
1:11:52among others. The group received
1:11:56sentences ranging from 20, 10, and 5
1:11:58years of public labor, sending them to
1:12:01the Nigua prison, where they were
1:12:03subjected to the most cruel and
1:12:05merciless torture. As a consequence of
1:12:09the torture endured, three died and
1:12:11several were driven insane. Some time
1:12:14later, Trujillo pardoned the survivors.
1:12:17A portion of them integrated into
1:12:19working with the dictatorship, and
1:12:21another went into exile. On August 20,
1:12:241934, Trujillo appointed General José
1:12:26Estrella as the government's special
1:12:28commissioner for the Cibao, based in
1:12:30Santiago. General Estrella gained a
1:12:34reputation for being cruel and ruthless
1:12:36, being blamed for a massive number of
1:12:38crimes and abuses. After 6 years of
1:12:43holding Trujillo's representation in
1:12:45the Cibao, during which he kept the
1:12:48city of Santiago and a large part of
1:12:50the region terrified, Trujillo himself
1:12:53sent him to prison on November 16, 1940
1:12:56. When brought to justice, he was held
1:13:01responsible for the murder of Virgilio
1:13:03Martínez Reina and his wife in May
1:13:061930. With the fall of General Estrella
1:13:11, Mario Fermín Cabral ascended to the
1:13:13governorship of Santiago, appointed on
1:13:16October 17, 1940. In June of the
1:13:21following year, he was dismissed, and
1:13:23two days later he was arrested along
1:13:25with former Lieutenant Colonel Veras
1:13:27Fernández due to serious accusations
1:13:29against them. Fermín Cabral spent two
1:13:33months in prison, and José Estrella
1:13:35spent a year and several months. After
1:13:38enduring the humiliation of
1:13:40imprisonment, Trujillo proceeded to
1:13:41release them and reintegrated them into
1:13:43his group of collaborators. The social
1:13:46resentment that characterized
1:13:48Trujillo's personality was manifested
1:13:50in the city of Santiago with greater
1:13:53harshness than in any other city in the
1:13:55country. In this city, where he had
1:13:59once endured humiliations and scorn,
1:14:02now as the absolute master of power,
1:14:04Trujillo forced all its citizens to
1:14:07march beneath his feet.
1:14:10Solemn is the moment and most worthy is
1:14:13the place I have chosen for this event.
1:14:17Santiago, land shaken by the clamor of
1:14:20the epic. We are surrounded by bastions
1:14:25that resisted the onslaughts of all
1:14:28invaders, and the dust stirred by the
1:14:31winds is ash and incineration for
1:14:33freedom and glory. It is a day when the
1:14:39sentinels of honor must stand guard by
1:14:41the walls where the martyrs were
1:14:44executed, and upon which heroism nailed
1:14:47its red flag of blood. For this and for
1:14:51100 other reasons, it has extraordinary
1:14:54significance for me that it is here in
1:14:57Santiago that I renew my promise to
1:14:59continue giving myself entirely to the
1:15:02service of the nation. That in the
1:15:07formation of my own character as a
1:15:10soldier, during those years when the
1:15:12will hardens like iron and the soul of
1:15:15the military man seeks to be tempered,
1:15:17the very lands where the battle of
1:15:20March 30th was fought were my crucible.
1:15:25And how many nights, at the hour of the
1:15:27most fruitful vigil, did Fort San Luis
1:15:30not cut its silhouette before my eyes,
1:15:32evoking the courage with which the
1:15:34people of Santiago wrapped the birth of
1:15:36the fatherland in bloody swaddling
1:15:39clothes. And to perpetuate his
1:15:43omnipotent presence over the entire
1:15:45city, he had his followers in Santiago
1:15:48build a monument in his honor of a
1:15:50magnitude that had no precedent in the
1:15:52country's history. Mario Fermín Cabral
1:15:57, the main promoter of the idea, led
1:16:00along with Pedro R. Espaillat a
1:16:02national committee for the Trujillo
1:16:05monument, which officially began
1:16:07construction work on April 30, 1944,
1:16:10with the symbolic first strike of the
1:16:13pickaxe by the governor of Santiago,
1:16:16Isabel Mayer. Upon initiating the work,
1:16:21Fermín Cabral stated," With this
1:16:23monumental work, we will pay Trujillo
1:16:25the grandest tribute that human eyes
1:16:27have beheld on this land in the course
1:16:30of five centuries. "The Trujillo Peace
1:16:34Monument, with an elevation of 370
1:16:36meters above sea level and 68 meters
1:16:39above the ground, was designed by the
1:16:42architect Henry Gazón Bona, a major in
1:16:44the national army. Although Trujillo's
1:16:48Peace Monument was never officially
1:16:50inaugurated, many of the official
1:16:52celebrations the dictatorship held in
1:16:54Santiago took place in its surroundings
1:16:57. The girls of Juan Gómez are pretty
1:17:08and dance well, but they have a defect:
1:17:10they surrender to everyone they see.
1:17:14The girls of Juan Gómez are pretty and
1:17:16dance well, but they have a defect:
1:17:18they laugh at everyone they see. With
1:17:44the construction of the enormous
1:17:46structure, the Chief's monument would
1:17:48be watching over, minimizing, and
1:17:50crushing the entire city and all its
1:17:52inhabitants. On July 29, 1952, Trujillo
1:18:03appointed Luis Amiama Tió president of
1:18:06the Administrative Council of Santo
1:18:08Domingo. Three months later, in October
1:18:11of that year, the Trujillonian
1:18:13Institute was created with the purpose
1:18:15of studying and disseminating
1:18:16Trujillo's government work. The
1:18:19legitimizing work of the dictatorial
1:18:21power that the Trujillo-supporting
1:18:23intelligentsia had been carrying out
1:18:25was institutionalized through this
1:18:27institute, whose first president was
1:18:29Dr. Manuel Arturo Peña Batlle.
1:18:32Throughout the dictatorship, the
1:18:34Trujillo-supporting intelligentsia
1:18:35insisted on attributing messianic
1:18:37qualities to the figure of the dictator
1:18:39.
1:18:41Here, the Church is also present,
1:18:46teacher of truth and life, which has
1:18:49come to ratify its faith in the author
1:18:53of the concordat and in the architect
1:18:56of the only policy that the Holy See
1:18:59supports, because it is the only one
1:19:02compatible with the Christian dogma of
1:19:05the equality of all men before the law
1:19:08and before God. Trujillo's own arrival
1:19:13to power seems like a miracle, in which
1:19:19the very hand of the Virgin intervenes
1:19:22as an instrument of higher designs. The
1:19:27Messiah of 1930. The Messiah of 1930. I
1:20:07am going to wait for her
1:20:08during the 40s and much of the 50s. The
1:20:11legitimizing effort of the
1:20:13intellectuals focused on the promotion
1:20:15of Catholicism and the country's
1:20:17Hispanic tradition. In most of their
1:20:21speeches and activities,
1:20:23Trujillo-supporting intellectuals tried
1:20:25excessively to fuse the patriotic
1:20:27sentiment of the Dominican people with
1:20:29Hispanic tradition and the Catholic
1:20:31religion, to the detriment of other
1:20:33influences present in the cultural and
1:20:35spiritual makeup of the Dominican
1:20:37nation. To my deep love for the
1:20:41motherland and tradition, in what it
1:20:44has that is lively and perennial, it
1:20:47recovers its original physiognomy and
1:20:51splendor; and it is, in its
1:20:53architectural and decorative elements,
1:20:57a most faithful transcript of the
1:21:00valued and rich components that
1:21:03integrated the essence of Spain and
1:21:06that became an inestimable heritage of
1:21:10our national soul. For us, our Hispanic
1:21:14ancestry is a source of pride. For this
1:21:21reason, to preserve it unscathed in all
1:21:23its clear purity, the Dominican people
1:21:26have suffered and fought to the point
1:21:28of sublime heroism. Its essence is our
1:21:33essence, and without it, the national
1:21:37soul would become formless and blurred.
1:21:45A woman is known by her man. I
1:21:51oh he goes along the roads spreading
1:21:53joy to leave my house, sir. I
1:22:03with the improvement in the weather I
1:22:05will
1:22:10when you come from my house I’m going
1:22:12to town. Saddle your horse, it’s a
1:22:18good one.
1:22:22The 1935 National Population Census
1:22:26provided the following data on the
1:22:28ethnography of the Dominican population
1:22:30. Whites 13%, blacks 16%, mulattoes 70%
1:22:36. By the late 1940s, intellectuals
1:22:40began to highlight the anti-communist
1:22:42character of the Trujillo regime and
1:22:44its adherence to the United States,
1:22:46never forgetting to praise the person
1:22:48of the dictator.
1:22:51In the Trujillo era, inaugurations have
1:22:57acquired the rhythm of the sunrise and
1:23:01sunset. Having lost the characteristics
1:23:09of the surprising and the unusual, they
1:23:13have taken on the prestige of a noble
1:23:17custom, a habit of constant improvement
1:23:21, of an ascent without stops or rest,
1:23:26toward renewed and ever-higher goals of
1:23:30national glory. It means that Trujillo
1:23:37does not dream dreams, but rather he
1:23:40dreams realities. Which at this moment
1:23:44our eyes see and our hands touch and
1:23:47applaud. The portentous crystallization
1:23:50of a prodigy. Trujillo has created a
1:23:55world out of nothing. The inept could
1:24:00not glimpse the miracle. Peace, wealth,
1:24:05work, justice, sovereignty, all
1:24:07emerging from the virile crucible of
1:24:09his prodigious hand. Champion of
1:24:14thought, paladin of character, great
1:24:17captain who picked up from the ground
1:24:20the flag fallen in 100 inglorious
1:24:23defeats. Trujillo is the authentic
1:24:26father of the new fatherland. Because
1:24:30the fatherland is not an anthem, nor a
1:24:32shield, nor a landscape, but
1:24:34civilization, culture, religiosity,
1:24:37bread of wheat and bread of justice. In
1:24:48mid-1933, a group of army officers
1:24:50planned a sedition to eliminate
1:24:52Trujillo and create a military junta.
1:24:57The main organizer of the conspiracy
1:24:59was Colonel Leoncio Blanco, former
1:25:01commander of the southern department
1:25:04based in Barahona, who gained the
1:25:06support of civilians and several
1:25:08high-ranking officers, among them
1:25:09General Ramón Vázquez Rivera, Major
1:25:12Aníbal Vallejo, and Lieutenant Colonel
1:25:14Luis Silverio Gómez. The conspiracy
1:25:19was denounced and in June 1933, Colonel
1:25:22Leoncio Blanco and the majority of
1:25:24those involved were arrested. After a
1:25:29period of torture in the Nigua prison,
1:25:31almost all the military and civilians
1:25:33involved, more than 120 people, were
1:25:36summarily executed. In March 1935, a
1:25:46year after the Santiago conspiracy was
1:25:48discovered, another was dismantled in
1:25:50Santo Domingo that sought to annihilate
1:25:53Trujillo. The conspiratorial plan
1:25:57consisted of shooting Trujillo in the
1:25:58vicinity of Independence Park, near the
1:26:00Hotel Presidente, or capturing him at
1:26:02the corner of El Conde and 19 de Marzo
1:26:04streets, in front of the Ariete café.
1:26:08The plot was betrayed by one of the
1:26:10participants, and everyone involved, 24
1:26:13in total, was captured. Óscar
1:26:18Michelena Pou, a banker and sugar mill
1:26:20owner, and Amadeo Barleta, a vehicle
1:26:23importer, were identified as the main
1:26:26leaders of the conspiracy, which also
1:26:28involved doctors Ramón de Lara, José
1:26:31Céic Hernández, Buenaventura Báez
1:26:34Ledesma, and lawyers Eduardo Vicioso,
1:26:37Abigail del Monte, and Rafael Ramón
1:26:39Eli Sánchez, among others. They were
1:26:45all taken to the torture center in
1:26:46Enigua, near the city of San Cristóbal
1:26:48, where they shared tears and blood
1:26:50with the prisoners from the Santiago
1:26:52conspiracy. In 1946, Captain Eugenio de
1:27:00Marchena, commander of the artillery
1:27:02company stationed at the Ozama Fortress
1:27:04, organized a plan with officers,
1:27:06soldiers, and civilians to eliminate
1:27:08Trujillo when he made one of his
1:27:10frequent visits to the military
1:27:12compound. According to the plan, each
1:27:17officer or soldier would recruit two
1:27:19more, and so on, until a strong
1:27:21military contingent was achieved. At
1:27:25the last minute, the conspiracy was
1:27:27betrayed, and everyone involved,
1:27:29including Captain Marchena, was
1:27:31arrested. Captain Marchena was executed
1:27:36under the" law of flight, "and the
1:27:37other 29 involved were transferred to
1:27:39prisons in the interior of the country
1:27:41and stabbed to death. The dictator's
1:27:54thirst for blood is not satisfied until
1:27:58he devours his own entrails. New York,
1:28:05March 12, 1956, it is apartment 15F of
1:28:08the building at number 30 Fifth Avenue
1:28:11in Manhattan. Undercover agents in
1:28:14Trujillo's service kidnap a Spanish
1:28:16exile and clandestinely transport him
1:28:18to Santo Domingo. His name, Jesús de
1:28:21Galíndez. Following the mysterious
1:28:35disappearance of Jesús de Galíndez,
1:28:38Trujillo began murdering a series of
1:28:40figures who thrived within the bowels
1:28:42of his dictatorship. Thus began the
1:29:33beginning of the end. Oh. Oh. M.

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